Tuesday, October 08, 2013

I mentioned last week that I had a lot of things going on this Fall going into Winter. Here's another project build I will be pursuing for Twenty Nine Inches. It's being dubbed "Project LTHT" (Long Travel Hard Tail)

The impetus for this project came in the form of a bike similar to the Buzzard, a Diamondback Mason, which I had the privilege to test for TNI earlier this year. (See here.) There were a lot of things that I found intriguing about the Mason, and although I was ready to poo-poo the idea of having a big, long travel hard tail around here, I found it wasn't a bad bike and it made riding here fun. I don't know about you, but I like "fun".

Having researched the long travel, slack angled 29"er market, I found out about the Singular Buzzard. Out of the many "boutique", small company samples, this and the Chromag Surface stood out to me as bikes I would really like to try. (Now you can add in the Niner ROS 9 into that list, but back then, it wasn't an option.) The Singular is different due to Singular owner Sam Allison's aesthetic design and his overall thoughtfulness in the frame design as a whole which Sam brings at a price which many others can not touch. The Chromag and Niner are good looking too, but I like Sam's "classy" touch a bit better. (Note: I already own a Singular Cycles Gryphon, so you see, I do like that look!)

So, since the Niner didn't exist until recently and the Chromag is really hard to get, I pursued the Singular instead because of the value and overall looks the Buzzard exhibits. Now it is time to get down to piecing this rig together. I have a 140mm travel fork, wheels, tires, and various bits to get this going. There are a few pieces that will be thought about, maybe some substitutions here and there with new bits, and I did order a Cane Creek 40 series head set for the 44mm head tube and tapered steer tube fork I have.

Stay tuned for more on the Project LTHT here and on Twenty Nine Inches coming soon..... Oh! And this isn't the end of the bicycle projects here!